BONES OF CONTENTION
Making A Murderer’s Steven Avery could be set free if bones prove victim Teresa Halbach was killed elsewhere
MAKING A Murderer’s Steven Avery could be set free if bone fragments from victim Teresa Halbach prove she was killed elsewhere, his lawyer has claimed.
Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey are serving life in prison for the 2005 murder of Halbach in which she was kidnapped then taken to his home, sexually assaulted and tortured before being shot.
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The two men then burned her body and attempted to destroy the charred remains, according to the prosecution case.
However, Avery is fighting a long-running and high-profile legal battle to get his murder conviction quashed, and his lawyer Kathleen Zellner now claims if bone fragments found at a third location are those of Halbach then it undermines the prosecutor's assertion that she was killed at Avery’s property.
Zellner maintains a 2011 report shows bone fragments were returned to the Halbach family, but the defence wasn’t notified, Fox 11 news reports.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice has now said that bones kept in the case were returned to the Halbach family.
“This admission proves these bone fragments were returned to the family and it is undisputed there was no notice given to Steven Avery or his attorneys and that violates Wisconsin law,” Zellner told Newsweek.
Avery is currently serving his sentence at Wisconsin’s Waupun Correctional Institution and continues to maintain his innocence.
CHARRED REMAINS
The trials of Dassey and Avery gained global attention after the release of Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, which cast doubt on the legal processes used to convict the pair.
Photographer Halbach disappeared in 2005 after visiting the Avery family salvage yard in Twin Rivers.
She was last known to have met Avery at his home on the grounds of his Auto Salvage business to take a picture of a minivan he was trying to sell.
Her vehicle was found part-hidden in his salvage yard and bloodstains recovered from its interior matched Avery's DNA.
The young woman's charred bone fragments were later found in a burn pit near Avery's home.
He was arrested and charged with Halbach's murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and mutilation of a corpse on November 11, 2005.
The prosecution claimed he invited his 16-year-old nephew Dassey into his home to sexually assault and torture her.
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In 1985, Avery was falsely convicted of sexually assaulting a young, female jogger.
It took 18 years for his conviction to be overturned and he was given a £305,000 payout in compensation.
However, he was re-arrested and charged with Teresa Halbach's murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and mutilation of a corpse on November 11, 2005.
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